Run Of The Mill History

We’ve just got back from a ‘Trip to Victorian Leeds’!

Our walks this week, supported by , covered just about everything you’d need to know to get by in Leeds 130 years ago. Our guides, played by , discussed everything from Vegetarians and Anarchists to s_x work and The Workhouse. We sang the latest songs from The Music Halls and even were subjected to some jokes 🍌🚶‍♂️. Our trip ended down The Pub with a glass of ‘Mother’s Ruin’. Thanks to our lovely audiences!

Researched, written and performed by for .
With thanks to and the staff from the Local and Family History library at .

A Trip to Victorian Leeds 🎄
16th & 17th December at 12:30pm
Tickets in bio 🎟️

Step back to The ‘Good’ Old Days, when clogs clattered over cobbles and the first moving images flickered into life.

Join our time travelling resident as she takes you back to Leeds as it was over 120 years ago. The aspiring music hall star, played by , will even knock out a song or two (if she likes you)!

Leeds Civic Trust members recieve a discount on their tickets.

Dates:
Join this theatrical Guided Walk on the 16th and 17th of December, departing from Wharf Street and lasting approximately half an hour. You’re welcome to join us at The Adelphi afterwards, a fine Victorian Public House 🍻.
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16th & 17th December
12:30 -13:00 (approx)
Departing from Leeds Civic Trust

BREAKING: committee meeting concludes 2026 will be a great year for RoTMH and all its audiences.

(We just had a team meeting planning our future output. It’s looking good and it needs YOU!)

#2026

Divided Self 20.09.25

What a great start to our project on Wild Willi Beckett! Stay tuned for some project updates!

Photos by Karol Wyszynski for

SATURDAY!
Anarchist Bradford-born writer and performer Nick Toczek has published sixty books and released two dozen albums. He’s also a professional magician and puppeteer.
From 1986 to 1991, he and Wild Willi Beckett co-ran weekly alternative cabaret events in Bradford venues. During that time, they also ran daily cabaret gigs for the annual Bradford Festival and co-organised dozens of literature events.

~
Gary Kaye has been a stalwart of the West Yorkshire music scene for over 30 years and for the past twenty years as a respected figure on the political folk circuit.
His early involvement with Psycho Surgeons saw him hitchhiking across the North of England, following them to gigs. Through this Gary developed a longtime friendship with Willi Beckett. Following Willi’s passing, Gary took on vocal duties in a series of Psycho Surgeons gigs, aimed at keeping the memory of Wild Willi Beckett alive.

DIVIDED SELF
20th Sept
Free tickets from our Bio and Bradford 2025 Website.

THIS SATURDAY!

Them There Cowboys bring you something the likes of which you ain’t never seen or heard before; call us cowpunk, call us folk, call us country, or call us q***r, all you need to know is we will have you jumpin’, singin’, cryin’, and dancin’ to the darn tootinest Q***r country music in the world!

Q***r country music that imagines a brighter, q***rer, anti-colonial tomorrow! Q***r country music that puts the red in redneck! Q***r country music by three non-binary cowboys who put the West on trial and take Americana to task! Beau Disco, Six-Finger Slick, and René Rose are three good ol’ theys with a taste for the honkiest and tonkiest tunes that make your ass shake, your heart sing, and your fist raised!

Solidarity forever cowpokes, and see you out there!

Divided Self, 20th Sept
Free tickets in our Bio and website.

***rcowboy ***r

THIS SATURDAY

We’re delighted to have Mila, a q***r poet and journalist joining us! Her reporting informs: her poetry reveals…

Want to find out more? Come to DIVIDED SELF,
20th September at .
FREE tickets in our bio and on website.

***rpoet

THIS SATURDAY!
Boff Whalley is a former guitarist and songwriter with anarchist band Chumbawamba, currently residing in the ‘Where Are They Now?’ file.
He has written numerous touring plays and large-scale musicals, created musical projects at Manchester Museum, Somerset House and the Tate Gallery, and composed for Welsh National Opera.
Boff has published four books and continues to write songs for the situationist Commoners Choir as well as collaborating with a wide range of artists and activists. He once had a job building plywood grottos for supermarket Santas.
When he isn’t writing, it’s a good bet Boff is fell running across the hills of Northern England, where he lives in Yorkshire with his family and a very old cat called Little Betty.

Divided Self project launch gig
from 8pm, 20th September.
Tickets available in our bio and on the website.

Who was Wild Willi Beckett?

Find out: DIVIDED SELF 20th Sept. Link in bio!

A Trip to 1960s Leeds!

We’ve just recovered from our trip 60 years into Leeds’ past. Our guide, a student at The College of Art, took us through the city centre and told us about life in 60’s Leeds. Played by , the character was partly inspired by her Grandmother’s family, pictured in the last image.

Thanks to for working with us, it was a great way to help mark their 60th anniversary!